Tag: Utah Utes

Since athletic director Danny White announced intentions to raise a championship banner, hold a parade and pay bonuses in recognition of a national championship, UCF has been the talk of the college football world. The attention paid to UCF football has in and of itself made this championship claim a success, even if the current…

UCF’s Peach Bowl defeat of Auburn capped the only perfect season in the FBS in 2017, punctuated the sheer stupidity of the Knights ending the regular season at No. 12. After not factoring into the College Football Playoff conversation whatsoever, UCF scored a win in some ways identical to the seminal Sugar Bowl that helped…

Welcome to The Third Phase! It's all about college football punting and college football punting accessories. Yes, I just did a lame King of the Hill joke. What are you going to do about it? Regardless of what you do, you can view the archives here. The Third Phase Punting Awards Show We did it!…

Just like that, it's another Monday, which means we're ready for another edition of The Third Phase. You're all here because I presume you want to read about punting after eating all of that fancy Thanksgiving food. You can look at previous editions here. Why Should [Finalist Here] Win The Ray Guy Award? Last week,…

Look at that, it's time for another edition of The Third Phase. If you don't know what this column is about, then you must be new. In which case, welcome! Check out previous posts here. Your Ray Guy Finalists And just like that, we're down to three finalists for the Ray Guy Award. And if…

Why yes, we have another edition of the Third Phase waiting for you. It's the kind of thing you set your Monday around, right? What else could you possibly do around this time, right?! Previous editions can be found here! Looking at the Contenders This week and next week, we're going to take a little…

Remember, college football: Show the world. Let them know; it's Halloween. HIT IT! It's Oct. 31, All Hallow's Eve, and what would this quintessential autumn holiday be without marrying two of the season's foremost traditions? In the spirit of the day, The Open Man proudly presents its All-Halloween Team, which isn't really a team, but…

Pac-12 Country served as the epicenter for college football's chaotic past weekend, with two of the four Top 10-ranked teams bounced coming from the West. Not to downplay either of the other two upsets that rocked the national landscape, but LSU beating Auburn was certainly less surprising than Cal dominating Washington State on Friday night…

Upsets in college football seem contagious. It's one of those strange phenomenons that cannot be rationalized or explained away with any metric. And thank the Gridiron Gods that's the case. How boring would the sport be if each Saturday went chalk? The upset is a central component of college football's soul. And this week, college…

The 2017 college football season last weekend reached its midway point for many of the 130 teams in FBS. The remainder will be halfway through their slates by day's end Saturday. In college parlance, this time of year marks midterms. We have a sense now as to which programs are on course for an A-grade…

It's time for another edition of the Third Phase. It's a column for the punting enthusiasts. This also assumes you're a punting enthusiast, in which case WELCOME! You can find previous columns here. At long last, another college football week has come and gone. And it seems like there is always some sort of punt…

Allow me to preface the first Saturday Six-Pack of October with this inscrutable fact: October owns. I spent this past Sunday as I do every Oct. 1, setting up Halloween decorations around the homestead. It's tradition in my household to add something to the collection every year, and for the first time, my son picked.…

Would you look at that, it's time for another edition of the Third Phase -- otherwise known as America's Favorite Column about punting. (Okay, I don't have any verifiable facts to back this statement up, but I don't see anybody else trying to stake that claim). I have a couple of topics I'd like to…

Last December's Pac-12 Championship Game went to halftime with Washington ahead of Colorado 14-7, and I was ecstatic. It was my fourth year covering the Pac-12 Championship, and the three previous installments ended in scores of Stanford 38, Arizona State 14; Oregon 51, Arizona 14; and Stanford 41, USC 22. Each of those three contests…

Welcome to The Third Phase. We're here to celebrate the punter and all the good things that come with it in this column. Check out this link if you want to look back on previous columns. Would you look at that, we've gotten through another terrific week of college football. So much excitement, and so…